Stockholm university

August Strindberg’s The Occult Diary – now for the first time in its entirety in English

The Occult Diary is published in its entirety in English translation for the first time, in a final revision by Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams and with an introduction by Per Stam. It is the first volume in the Department of Culture and Aesthetics' new book series Critical Editions in Culture and Aesthetics, at Stockholm University Press.

Portrait of Swedish author August Strindberg
August Strindberg 1908. Photographer: Herman Anderson, Stockholm. Part Of: National Library of Sweden, Collection of Manuscripts, Strindbergsrummet

August Strindberg (1849–1912) kept a diary from February 1896 in Paris until the summer of 1908 in Stockholm. He referred to his diary from this period as his Occult Diary and used it to help him decipher the world as he experienced it. He read and reread his own notations, adding new interpretations, and deleting others. He also drew on the diary as material for creative expression, transforming isolated events and observations into groundbreaking works of literature.

The Occult Diary is a key resource for international Strindberg scholars and theater professionals and more broadly for scholars focusing on drama, theater history, stage performance, and literary currents at the turn of the previous century. The diary initiates the reader into the writer’s inner world during a crucial transitional period in his personal and literary life. It documents his readings and observations and gives important clues and information about an ongoing process of artistic reorientation. Strindberg was exploring new ways of looking at, interpreting, and writing about nature, science, art, the occult, and his fellow human beings.

The cover of August Strindberg’s The Occult Diary
August Strindberg’s The Occult Diary.

The editors and other contributors to the book:

  • Editors: Per Stam, Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams and Gunnel Engwall
  • Translation from Swedish: Karin Petherick
  • Revision: Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams and Anders Hallengren
  • Editor of the English translation: Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams
  • Introduction and index: Per Stam
  • Introduction translated by Rochelle Wright
  • Layout: Ilaria Tedde
 

Critical Editions in Culture and Aesthetics

This English version of August Strindberg’s The Occult Diary Paris 1896 – Stockholm 1908 is the first volume in the Department of Culture and Aesthetics' new book series Critical Editions in Culture and Aesthetics at Stockholm University Press.

 

Read The Occult Diary for free now

On the Stockholm University Press website you can download an ePub or PDF-file that allows you to read the book online or access it on multiple devices. You may also order a print copy of the book through the website:

https://doi.org/10.16993/bcb